Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion based on the teachings of a man called Siddhartha Gauthama. He lived for about 25 centuries. Siddhartha Gauthama came to be called Buddha. In his life Buddha traveled and taught, he did not teach people what he had realized when he became enlightened.   He taught people how to be come enlightened themselves. He taught them that awakening comes through your own direct experience, not through their beliefs. Buddhism spread throughout Asia to become one of the dominant religions in the continent. It is over 350 million people who practice Buddhism, which would make Buddhism the fourth largest of the world’s religions.
Buddhism is different from other religions and some people question if it is really a religion. For most religions the focus is on God. For Buddhism, they are taught that believing in gods was not useful for people who were seeking enlightenment. In most religions, they are defined by their beliefs. Buddha said that we should not accept doctrines just because we read them in scripture or are taught them by priests. Buddha taught people how to realize truth for ourselves. The focus is on practice rather than belief. The foundation of Buddhism is the Four Noble Truths, which are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, the truth of the path that frees us from suffering.   The fourth of Buddha’s Noble Truths is The Noble Eightfold Path, it consists of eight factors, which are right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.   This eight factors are said to be eight dimensions of one’s behavior. Buddha taught people that wives should be obedient to their husbands; on the other hand he taught husbands that they should respect their wives.
In early Buddhism the view of women was said to be inferior.   In todays world, women are working for better conditions and education. Women have been getting...